DynCorp staff 'fair game'

The deaths of three US contract employees in the Gaza Strip bombing underscore the danger such workers face around the world.

The US Government is relying increasingly on civilians to perform functions that were once reserved for the military, including feeding American troops and delivering their mail, training Iraq's new armed forces and providing security for visiting foreign leaders.

"The more they accompany troops abroad the more they are likely to encounter dangerous situations," said Deborah Avant, a political scientist at George Washington University and an expert on private military companies.

"To the extent that they are seen as part of the US military apparatus they would be more likely to be viewed as legitimate targets."

The State Department identified the victims, who worked for DynCorp, as John Branchizio, 36; Mark Parson, 31; and John Martin Linde, 30.

The men provided security for the US embassy in Tel Aviv and were escorting diplomats on their way to interview Palestinian candidates for Fulbright scholarships.

In the past decade, at least 13 DynCorp employees have been killed in international hot spots, including 10 in Colombia.

In February a pilot working for Northrop Grumman was killed in Colombia while on an anti-drug mission for the State Department.

Three other Northrop employees were taken hostage when the single-engine aircraft crashed and are still being held.

Iraq is among the most dangerous environments contractors have encountered. The Brookings Institution estimates that there is one contractor in the country for every 10 soldiers.

In August an employee of a Houston company was killed while delivering mail to American troops in Iraq when a remote-controlled bomb exploded under his car.

A General Accounting Office report in June called the Pentagon's oversight of the thousands of private contractors around the world "inconsistent and sometimes incomplete", adding that it had not developed a consistent policy for their security.